Kim Jong Un certainly seems crazy. But sound mind isn't a re-uirement for predictable action. Tyrants often mask steady goals with wild behavior. One need only think of world pests like Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein to realize entire regions can be thrust into unwanted global crises.

Like Castro and Saddam, Kim Jong Un has made clear he's dedicated to expanding his ability to harm America and her allies. The difference is, he has a nuclear capability, not a borrowed or boasted one. North Korea has a proven record of long-range missile development that could ultimately hit the American main-land.

Not to respond is dangerous. Not to understand the growing threat is
disastrous. Regarding the current danger with North Korea, it comes as no
surprise that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel chose to deploy the "Army Navy
Transportable Radar Surveillance" (AN/TPY-2) radar to the Japanese mainland.
Also known as the "Tippy Two," this radar outpost is part of a broader
strategy to better protect against the growing missile threat posed by Kim
Jong Un.

The Tippy Two is the most advanced mobile radar system on the planet.
Numerous simulations have proven its ability to identify and track a wide
variety of missiles with great precision. Tippy Two radars can also conduct
"real-time discrimination" - tech speak for being able to look at a complex
radar picture and determine what is a real and what isn't. But right now,
there aren't enough Tippy Twos - a point that I and many others have been
making for a while.

Eight Tippy Twos are already in use. Four are currently deployed around
the globe to help protect the United States, our military and our allies.
Redeploying one of these units to Japan would leave American soldiers and
our friends vulnerable to attacks.

Three others are part of a missile defense system called THAAD (Terminal
High Altitude Area Defense). Stripping radars from any one of the three
THAAD batteries would render the systems useless and deprive our warriors of
a critical defense capability.

The final Tippy Two unit is the one most likely headed to Japan. It has
been reserved for technological research and testing.

Deploying this unit would have consequences. Without it, researchers will
have a much harder time translating technological developments into improved
missile detection on the battlefield, before a disaster strikes.

Geo-politically, we also can't underestimate the important message a
successful test sends. To our citizens and friends, it's a message of
reassurance. To our enemies, it's a powerful deterrent.

Simply put, the U.S. needs to manufacture more Tippy Twos by sticking to a
commitment already made back in 2011. Defense officials can do it, and the
plans are there to expand the Tippy Two supply to a size proportional to the
global rogue-missile threat.

The 2011 federal budget included production plans for 18 new Tippy Twos.
In 2012, however, amid growing fiscal discipline calls, federal officials
scaled back that order to 11. The order was then bumped up to 12 by
Congress. That total still isn't nearly enough.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Steve Russell was involved in the capture of Saddam
Hussein and is the author of "We Got Him! A Memoir of the Hunt and Capture
of Saddam Hussein." He is an infantry veteran of Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan
and Iraq, a military analyst for Concerned Veterans for America and served
as chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Oklahoma Senate.